How Do Judges Decide School Finance Cases?

There is an old riddle that asks, what do constitutional school funding lawsuits and birds have in common? The answer: every state has its own. Yet while almost every state has experienced hotly-contested school funding litigation, the results of these suits have been nearly impossible to predict. Scholars and advocates have struggled for decades to explain why some state courts rule for plaintiff school children—often resulting in billions of dollars in additional school spending—while others do not. If there is rough agreement on anything, it is that “the law” is not the answer: variation in the strength of state constitutional education clauses is uncorrelated with the odds of plaintiff success. Just what factors do explain different outcomes, though, is anybody’s guess. One researcher captured the academy’s state of frustration aptly when she suggested that whether a state’s school funding system will be invalidated “depends almost solely on the whimsy of the state supreme court justices themselves.” In this Article, we analyze an original data set of 313 state-level school funding decisions using multiple regression models. Our findings confirm that the relative strength of a state’s constitutional text regarding education has no bearing on school funding lawsuit outcomes. But we also reject the judicial whimsy hypothesis. Several variables— including the health of the national economy (as measured by GDP growth), Republican control over the state legislature, and an appointment-based mechanism of judicial selection—are significantly and positively correlated with the odds of a school funding system being declared unconstitutional. After presenting these findings, the Article discusses the important implications for school finance advocates and for constitutional and legal theory more broadly

Mimo negocjacji nie udało się osiągnąć zawieszenia broni

This thesis is a guidebook to my artistic work. It contains a wide scope of my pursuits related to the physical form of sculpture installation. The subsequent chapters constitute a reflection of its particular elements. Individually, they are subjects of my interests. Among them, important places belong to the issue of earth/the Earth and its special treatment, the problem of sound in human surroundings, and the matter of collaboration

EFFECT OF TIANEPTINE ON COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN PATIENTS WITH DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS DURING A 3-MONTH OBSERVATION

Objective: The authors put forward the hypotheses that during a three-month treatment with tianeptine in patients with depressive disorders there is an improvement in the short-term memory, reaction time and attention. Subject and methods: 20 patients suffering from depression, were included in the study. During the entire research period all patients were treated with monotherapy with tianeptine. Cognitive function measurements were performed using the Vienna Test System. Results: Our study showed an improvement in the all the assessed functions: patients treated with tianeptine had better performance in tests measuring short term memory and learning processes as well as reaction time and attention. Conlusion: In conclusion, the study shows that tianeptine improves cognitive functions in depressed patients

IMPACT OF OLANZAPINE ON COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA DURING AN OBSERVATION PERIOD OF SIX MONTHS

Objective: The objective of our study was to evaluate the effect of olanzapine treatment on selected cognitive functions in patients suffering from schizophrenia during an observation period of six-months. Subjects and methods: Twenty patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia according to ICD-10 criteria for research were examined. One day before initiation of olanzapine a baseline assessment was performed. The neuropsychological examination was repeated 28 days, 60 days, 3 months, and 6 months after the beginning of treatment. Cognitive function measurements were performed using Signal, COGNITRON and RT tests, being a part of the computer-based Vienna Test System (VTS). Results: Our study showed an improvement in the assessed cognitive functions. Impairments in cognitive domains were observed at baseline as compared to published normative data, and enhancement in achieved results was observed subsequently in all stages of the treatment until the 6th month. Conclusion: The above results are consistent with a number of other studies on the impact on cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia treated with olanzapine

Modified low-cycle fatigue (LCF) test

The fatigue test results obtained by the common low-cycle fatigue test (LCF) and its modified MLCF counterpart were presented. A satisfactory agreement of results was achieved for the two selected materials. With the MLCF method it is possible to examine from ten to twenty parameters using one single sample only. These parameters characterise the tested material in terms of its mechanical properties under the conditions of mechanical loads. Simultaneously, the study shows the implementation of the modified low-cycle fatigue test in practice

Nowa urbanizacja miast i aglomeracji miejskich o przemysłowej proweniencji

Celem opracowania jest pokazanie nowej urbanizacji miast i aglomeracji miejskich jako procesu twórczo rozwijającego nowe koncepty miast, specyficzne dla wieku globalizacji, technologii cyfrowych i kreatywności. Podstawą analizy tych konceptów są dla autorów: łańcuch procesowo-behawioralny oraz mechanizmy ekonomiczne wspierające nową urbanizację, które uruchomiły się w Polsce na początku lat 90. XX wieku. W szczególnie intensywnej postaci można je obserwować w regionach miejskich o przemysłowej proweniencji